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—He struck the ground like a thunderbolt.
If he hadn’t landed on the ground itself, then he would have pulverized whatever had been in its place instead.
His hand resting upon the ground for support, the Mazoku slowly rose. He was substantially larger than the other Mazoku had been, and stood over two meters tall.
His arms and legs were as thick as logs, like an incarnation of violence itself. Suimei, a visitor from another world, was instantly reminded of the Oni of j.a.panese legend as well as the satyrs of Western mythology. He positively radiated a dense aura of menace.
The intense feeling of danger teeming in the air filled the humans’ hearts with fear. This was a devil.
Even though he was still humanoid in form, and was even attired in a manner similar to humanity, but the specifics of his body couldn’t have been more different.
“…Ho, looks like I’ve found what we’ve been looking for.”
They couldn’t understand what this Mazoku was saying. His fragmented words didn’t even convey enough information to hazard a guess.
At the sudden appearance of this Mazoku, and the terrifying pressure they felt from him, the adventurers lost their minds out of fear.
“W-what… That guy is so much stronger than the others!”
“S, so powerful! The others can’t even compare…”
In an instant, they’d lost all calm. They couldn’t be blamed for that, though. Although the Mazoku that had previously appeared were frightening enough all their own, but an opponent of this level made them feel faint.
However—
Tch. This one’s on a whole different level from the other Mazoku…
Because of this new opponent, Suimei, too, began to sweat. Even if he hadn’t actually seen just how strong this new enemy actually was, but he was nevertheless shaken by the sudden appearance of such a powerful foe.
Over and over he told himself to calm down, but unexpectedly, it was hard to still his nervousness.
“Insects… You sure were full of yourselves just now.”
The Mazoku snorted, ridiculing the humans before him.
His intentions unclear, his gaze swept across the a.s.sembled humans like a tiger staring down its prey.
“…Hmph. This is different from what I heard. Don’t tell me that info we received was false…? Just where did things go wrong?” The Mazoku’s voice was noticeably tinged with confusion.
Nevertheless, casting his concerns aside, the Mazoku took a deep breath.
And then—
“Whatever. What I have to do hasn’t changed. —Listen up, humans! My name is Rajas! I am one entrusted with the army of the glorious Maou Nakshatra, a general of the Mazoku! Having met me here, this is the end of the road for all of you! Obediently await your death at my hands!”
His voice shook both air and ground. The guards, already trembling before this, felt their terror grow.
“H, hii…”
A fearful whimper escaped someone’s lips. The others felt as though it could well have been them. The only word that could describe their current situation was despair.
“…”
In contrast, Lefille, standing at the forefront of the human guards, simply stood unmoving before the Mazoku known as Rajas.
This couldn’t be. Even someone such as she was unable to withstand the menace of this Mazoku?
Their eyes turning to this young girl who was serving as the vanguard, the gazes of the others started to show distinct unease.
Just then.
Lefille’s emotions flared.
“YOU BASTAAAAAAARD!”
An earth-shaking yell that in no way lost out to Rajas. A roar filled with deep fury, that cast off the fear holding the others in its grip. Red light s.h.i.+ning once more, Lefille attacked.
“Oh?”
In the face of that whirlwind of red, Rajas revealed a fearless smile. He thrust out his fist to meet the attack head-on.
Lefille’s slash was, of course, accompanied by that crimson light, but her strike was unable to reach Rajas’ ma.s.sive hand. Two enormous powers collided, exploding in a shower of sparks.
Her colossal blade had been stopped by the dark energy surrounding Rajas’ fist, and in the end, it never made contact with his arm.
It had been a full-powered, decisive strike. The Mazoku responded with a sneer, though one that carried a hint of praise.
“Not bad, little girl.”
“Of course! Do you remember this sword?”
“Hmm? Your sword?”
“—Tsk. Rajas. Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten me already!”
Unlike the radiance that had come from her before, naked anger now flowed forth from her.
From what she just said, it looks like that Rajas guy has some sort of past with her—
The Mazoku swung his arm, knocking aside her sword.
Lefille landed firmly upon the ground and reset her stance.
The Mazoku squinted at her, and then as if suddenly recalling where he’d met her before, laughed uproariously.
“—Ahahahahahaha! I see now! I remember you now, little girl! You’re that survivor of Nos.h.i.+as from that time, right?!”
“Eh…?”
“Huh…?”
From the Mazoku’s mouth had come the name “Nos.h.i.+as.” At this name, the others – the party of adventurers included – suddenly reacted.
Nos.h.i.+as was that country that was destroyed by the Mazoku. So she escaped from there. I guess that’s where she met that Mazoku?
Her emotions seizing control of her person, Lefille yelled back, “…That’s right! Now you remember!”
“Hahaha! Man, I’d totally figured you’d have died in the wilderness somewhere. To think you were still alive! Everyone else died, after all!”
“You b.a.s.t.a.r.d!”
The Mazoku’s pleased smile caused Lefille to unleash another ferocious strike.
She’d completely lost herself to her rage, and lost all sense of self. Her blade was now infused with an intense energy of a degree completely beyond that which it had before possessed.
Unfortunately, the Mazoku’s power was every bit its equal. Corrupt power enveloped his fist, which blocked Lefille’s fierce attack. Just then, having lost her calm, the girl showed an opening.
“—Your movements are too repet.i.tive!”
“Oh—” she called out unconsciously as her vision filled with the sight of that ma.s.sive fist.
The situation was dire. The Mazoku’s fist, br.i.m.m.i.n.g with dark energy, shot directly toward her.
If she were to get hit by that, even a spirit such as herself would not emerge unscathed.
“Tch—”
The others were frozen in suspense. That meant the only one left who could possibly turn things around was Suimei.
Clicking his tongue, Suimei activated a magic and pulled the frozen Lefille away from the incoming punch.
“Wha—?!”
“Eh—?”
Both the one who had just narrowly avoided the attack and the one whose attack had just missed cried out in surprise.
Right before the moment of impact, Suimei had darted out. Because his magic had been so hastily enacted, he hadn’t been able to create much distance between her and Rajas. That meant that Lefille was still well within Rajas’ attack range.
Accordingly, he could only advance and use his own body to defend against the incoming attack.
“Suimei-kun! You can’t! Get back!”
“A n.o.body like you dares to challenge me?!”
The shockwave created by Rajas’ savage attack pounded into Suimei’s body. Suimei endured the pressure as he raced toward the Mazoku at the greatest speed he was capable of mustering.
At the same time, his eyes never left his opponent’s fist. The Mazoku’s shoulder moved. The Mazoku had unleashed another punch, one that could surely smash him to bits.
Can I do what I did last time and seize the opportunity to throw him? No, that’s far too dangerous. Given the tremendous energy emanating from that fist, even the slightest contact would have disastrous consequences. Yes, that was a very bad idea indeed.
Suimei leapt upward, dodging the incoming blow, and raced up the length of the Mazoku’s arm, his speed never dropping. By the time the arm had fully extended, he’d already reached the top of its body.
“Fu—”
Suimei released an earth-shattering kick on the Mazoku’s shoulder with the entirety of what mana he had been able to gather in these few instants.
From his foot a strong sense of feedback came: it’d been a good hit. Nevertheless, Rajas was completely unharmed.
All Suimei had managed to accomplish had been to force Rajas’ legs deeper into the ground.
—s.h.i.+t. Even a solid hit like that is useless, huh.
The adventurers’ swords had been decidedly effective against the Mazoku, but this was all he had been able to do. How annoying. Was there something he was missing? Usually an attack like that would have split his victim wide open from the shoulders on down. Something was strange here.
Such rude thoughts ran through Suimei’s mind even as his body fluttered through the air.
“You little punk!”
A roar accompanied Rajas’ ma.s.sive fist. Even if it wasn’t completely aimed, it nevertheless still had enough power, or rather, more than enough, to kill him five times over.
Lefille faced off directly against this kind of power? That’s a spirit for you. I’m in awe.
“—Via gravitas” (—Gravity road, take shape.)
Via gravitas. Faced with an incoming attack, he activated his magic with a single phrase, forcing his body to the ground with utmost haste. His peripheral vision caught hold of Rajas’ leg kicking straight toward him.
“—?!”
In the blink of an eye, Suimei was behind him.
Watching his foe dodge what he had been sure was a certain-kill attack, Rajas’ face was filled with shock. His kick landed a moment later, accompanied by an enormous crack, completely uprooting the trees in the area impacted by his attack.
I wish this guy would control his strength a little, Suimei sighed as he retreated before Rajas could turn around.
Placing some distance between them, Suimei’s pace slowed as he continued to observe his opponent, brutal to the extreme.
Appearing before his squinting eyes was the rear view of the Mazoku. Its gigantic frame was accompanied by physique that was a step above that of humanity, and boasted a menacing strength. Its mana levels were an entirely different level from the other Mazoku and a pitch black, foul energy coursed around its body.
That dark power flowed forth from its body wasn’t something that any living creature should naturally possess.
Finally, Rajas turned around and their gazes met. In the next instant, Suimei had lost his opponent, dodging to the side.
“Sh—” Rajas muttered unconsciously, having been toyed with by Suimei.
Again, that ma.s.sive arm came rus.h.i.+ng toward him. In that case—
“—Omissa vicissim” (Reverse heaven and earth.)
“What?!”
His magic inverted s.p.a.ce within a designated area. His target thus dropped headfirst into the ground.
He, of course, wasn’t expecting this to inflict any damage, but rather had intended to gain himself a precious few seconds.
To earn himself the time to chant this next incantation, that is.
Leaping backward, he shouted, “—Abreq aaaaa!”
His incantation was nevertheless interrupted.
That was because an avalanche of dirt and stone came rus.h.i.+ng toward him.
“A clod of earth, is it…” he muttered unconsciously, his indifferent tone shaking slightly.
He waved an arm at the incoming ma.s.s.
In the blink of an eye, this ma.s.sive clump of earth parted like the Red Sea before the arms of Moses.
Immediately thereafter, he came into contact with the remnants of that dark power.
…It’s hard to breathe.
Indeed, “evil” was an extremely accurate description for this power. This was a power ant.i.thetical to humanity, its mere presence was enough to cause instinctive revulsion.
It looked like calling upon power from outside of this world was rather effective. The magic he had just tried was definitely the key.
…Once again, the two enemies faced off.
One side stuck his arms into his pockets while the other, having been toyed with as he had been, was surprisingly calm.
I guess that’s a general for you. He knows how to keep his cool.
Brus.h.i.+ng off the dirt from his body, Rajas spoke.
“Not bad for a punk. Even though you’re a mage, you seem quite capable.”
“Thanks.”
“But these glancing blows aren’t any use—”
“Glancing blows? From where I stand, you’ve just been swinging at the empty air. What are your thoughts on that?”
“Shut your mouth. Seeing as you can’t hurt me at all, I wouldn’t be so arrogant if I were you.”
He’d laughed off his provocations. This wasn’t an opponent that would let down his guard.
Lefille, having returned to a battle-ready state, reached his side—
“Suimei-kun! Please be careful! Once he gets serious, this guy’s power isn’t anything like this!”
“…Are you kidding me? He’s still not being serious and it’s already like this? Heavens, have mercy…” Suimei muttered gloomily, not caring that his comments were ill-suited to the situation.
Rather, he really was beginning to feel depressed.
Rajas looked like he hadn’t even worked up a sweat. Given what Lefille had said, it was quite possible that he hadn’t even brought out 50% of his true power.
“If he wants to, then this whole area… —!”
“Oi oi, this guy is that dangerous?”
“Yes, even my slashes with this sword aren’t bothering him in the least. You can’t afford to be careless.”
Judging by the white-knuckled grip she had on her sword, she seemed to have been remembering something particularly unpleasant. Actually, that had to be the case. There’s no way she didn’t have a memory like that.
“Hahaha, exactly. You’re just a human mage, don’t get too full of yourself…”
“Ku—”
Lefille groaned at the sudden swell of power. In her eyes, a trace of apprehensiveness appeared.
…If his enemy possessed a power of this degree, then he couldn’t afford to just let things continue like this. He would act before things pa.s.sed the point of no return.
And so…
“Archatius over—” (Mana furnace, charge—)
—Just as Suimei began his incantation, the situation suddenly changed.
Rajas, who he was sure was about to attack, instead looked over at Lefille and laughed.
“Kukukuku…”
“What’s so funny?!”
“Oh, it’s nothing. I just thought of something fun.”
” ‘Something fun?’ ”
Rajas didn’t bother to answer as he took to the sky.
“I’ll take my leave from the battlefield for now.”
“Wh—?!”
“Don’t forget, though, girl from Nos.h.i.+as – your power doesn’t mean the tiniest thing before us. Once I gather all my subordinates in the area, I’ll be back!”
“Subordinates…? That’s…”
“This was just one part of my forces. Just a tiny fraction, really. Do remember that,” Rajas added, as Lefille could barely speak. “Don’t bother hoping for salvation though. I’ve brought an enormous army with me, and my orders were to ‘Crush all human opposition without mercy’.”
With that, Rajas turned and left with the other surviving Mazoku.
Lefille started to give chase, but as she began to rush off—
“W-wait!”
“Lefille!”
“—!”
Suimei grabbed her shoulder. Her actions were meaningless.
She flipped him a look that asked why he was stopping her. He shook his head. Seemingly understanding, she finally seemed to regain control of herself.
“Are you okay?” Suimei asked with concern.
“Yeah, sorry… I lost my cool,” she answered regretfully.
☆
As things calmed down in the wake of the Mazoku’s departure, Suimei s.h.i.+fted to the task that had been awaiting him.
Healing. While there were other magicians capable of restorative magic, their knowledge of these was only on par with Suimei. Adding in the knowledge of curative magic he’d brought from his own world, his abilities far surpa.s.sed theirs.
“Whew. With this, we’re done,” he sighed, having finished up with the last person who had needed to be healed.
Because healing wasn’t his specialty, there were still some places where he could stand to improve, but his self-evaluation of his healing ability was still rather high.
The guard he had just healed swung his arm a few times in test as he thanked him, “Sorry about this, Mage onii-san.”
“Not at all, this is what I’m here for, after all.”
At this answer, the guard laughed happily.
“Still, you’re pretty amazing. That magic you used just now healed my wound without even leaving a scar, and I can even use my arm right away. I’ve never seen such a perfected healing technique.”
“It’s not common to be able to move the affected body part after healing?”
“That, huh. Well, with small wounds, sure, but not with larger ones. That’s common knowledge, right?”
“Huh.”
That was unexpected.
From what he’d said, Suimei surmised that the restriction was due to the fact that mages were only healing what they could see. Although the visible wound was healed, that nevertheless did not mean the healing had been complete.
“Is that not how you’re doing it?”
“You could say that.”
Suimei gave an ambiguous reply.
When it came to this issue, further investigation was warranted.
On a different note.
“—Is it just me, or has it gotten really noisy over there?”
A little ways off merchants and guards were gathered and were making a racket.
“…Yeah. Maybe we’re about to leave? Would that be why?” the guard guessed unconcernedly.
From what Rajas had said, his Mazoku soldiers had already begun to gather. This wasn’t the time to be leisurely taking their time, they needed to leave.
This clamor though, what was causing it?
“Well, your healing’s already finished, so why don’t we go take a look?”
“Sure.”
His back to the guard, Suimei headed in the direction of the racket.
As he arrived, he noticed a tension in the atmosphere.
What was the cause of this? This question plaguing his thoughts, he continued to observe the situation, taking note of the fact that the guards and merchants seemed to have someone surrounded.
The one surrounded was none other than the one who had been courageously engaged in battle until just now – Lefille.
Typically speaking, one who had heroically and singlehandedly dominated the Mazoku as she had would be treated with great respect, but the mood dominating the crowd was that of nervousness and unease. The scene simply could not in any way be seen as congratulatory in nature.
Surrounded as she was, Lefille opened her mouth to speak, intending to dispel the atmosphere.
“…Why have you asked me to come here? There are other things that should take precedence, no?” Lefille asked as her gaze took in the faces of those encircling her.
An adventurer stepped forward.
“And what would that be?”
“To move somewhere safer, obviously. If we dawdle here, there’s a good chance the Mazoku will attack again.”
“Attack again…”
His words were filled with deep, dark emotion.
At his response, Lefille repeated her suggestion, more forcefully this time.
“What? Is there something you want to say? If so, then just say it alr—”
“Yeah, I do. The Mazoku attacked us because of you, didn’t they? You’re a survivor of Nos.h.i.+as, right?”
“—!”
“…What do you mean ‘just say it already’? Stop playing dumb. This is all your fault! It’s all your fault that we were attacked, that we were targeted by the Mazoku!” the adventurer spat.
The harsh words left Lefille hesitant and uncertain.
“C-certainly we were targeted, but it has nothing to do with me…”
“And how do you know that?”
“…”
Lefille was left speechless in the face of their malice.
Even though Rajas had certainly said that he’d an eye on her, but there was no way to know that that was why the Mazoku had attacked.
The adventurer’s certainty wasn’t justified, but without evidence to the contrary, she couldn’t exactly refute his claims either.
“That Mazoku was hunting for you, wasn’t he? We were all dragged into this because he wants you dead.”
“T-that’s…”
” ‘That’s…’ what? If you have an explanation, then spit it out already!”
She couldn’t respond, bowing her head instead.
Unable to prove that she was innocent of the accusation, she could only keep her silence. Suimei, however, knew how to rebut their claims.
“Can I say something?”
“Huh?”
“When we were fighting that Mazoku earlier, didn’t he tell Lefille, ‘I remember you now’? In other words, only then did he notice that Lefille was present here. That being the case, there’s no way they came here intentionally targeting her from the very beginning.”
Unfortunately.
“Ha, that’s your proof?! That has nothing to do with anything!”
“And why the h.e.l.l not…?!”
The adventurer had already lost the ability to make rational judgments. He was too sure that he was right.
Gesticulating wildly, he continued.
“That’s because they just had some general intel on her whereabouts! Only after searching the area did they find who they were looking for! Or do you have proof to the otherwise?!”
His argument was that they only knew the general location of their enemy and that her precise whereabouts had only become clear after the first attack. To be sure, that explanation did explain some things—
“Moreover, don’t you remember what this girl said after we were ambushed? She knew that our attackers were Mazoku! Why would she know that?! They could very well have been monsters or magical beasts! No, there’s an easy way to explain her certainty – she already knew that there were Mazoku hunting her!”
—It was only then that Suimei noticed. This was the adventurer who’d come to warn them of the attack. At this moment, the memory of his doubting gaze came to mind.
However.
“Hmph. Preposterous. That was just because Lefille is sensitive to the Mazoku’s presence.”
“You may be right, but… Do you have any evidence of that?”
“That—”
What a leading manner of questioning. With questions like that, Suimei couldn’t really answer.
If he were to ask Suimei to produce evidence of his claims, then Suimei, of course, would not be able to do so.
Plus, given the current mob mentality, even if he had managed to produced the evidence asked for, it wouldn’t have changed a thing.
“You can’t do it, can you? Then scram.”
“What…?”
Every new word from the man irritated Suimei more and more.
The man’s provocative tone and words sent his blood pressure soaring.
The wall of people parted, and a man appeared.
“Hold it, you two!”
“Galeo-san…”
They turned in the direction of the new voice. The roar had come from the merchants’ leader – Galeo.
“You’re all here to guard the caravan. If dissension breaks out among the ranks, it’s going to cause problems for others. Your argument ends now.”
“If the argument is to end, does that mean you’ve already decided on a plan of action, Galeo-san?”
“Yes. I’m the head of this caravan. I’ll take charge of judging this case.”
“O-oh…”
The adventurer could only nod his head when faced with Galeo’s decisive words and att.i.tude. Even though he was rather small in stature, he was nevertheless the leader of a caravan. His character far surpa.s.sed that of this adventurer.
“Is that acceptable to everyone else?” Galeo asked the others.
They all nodded. The complaining voices directed at Lefille were thus silenced.
Confirming that the outburst had ended, he turned to Lefille and spoke coldly.
“…Gurakis-san, I’m the leader of this caravan. That means that I must place the safety of this group first and foremost.”
He hadn’t explicitly stated his conclusion yet, but everyone knew where he was going with this.
Explaining this in full seriousness, he meant to—
“We’ve been targeted by the Mazoku, and you are the reason. As the one responsible for this group, I can’t just leave this situation alone. Do you know what I mean?”
“I do. I understand. You want me to go.”
“—?!”
“That is correct.”
His roundabout manner of speaking notwithstanding, Lefille had understood what he was getting at. Galeo nodded at her response. Responding to the turn of events, the crowd began to murmur once more.
“Of course!”
“Get the h.e.l.l out of here!”
“You jinx!”
Overly cruel words. Regardless of whether or not Lefille had indeed been the cause for the attacks, she had never intended to bring harm to the caravan. In any event, the one in greatest danger at the moment was her. The one they should be most concerned about was her.
That was how it should have been, anyway. This manner of kicking someone when they were down was going way too far.
Suimei could restrain himself no longer.
“Hey! You’re just going to force her out all alone?!”
“Of course we are! The Mazoku were targeting us because of this girl, you know?! Staying together with this girl means going up against that Mazoku general and his army!”
“Even so! If she’s all alone, what’s she going to do about food and water?!”
Even putting the Mazoku issue aside, this was another important facet of things.
Whether or not you were traveling alone, food and water were a matter of life and death. Ensuring that you had sufficient provisions to last was a necessary part of travel.
Since the caravan was fundamentally for the purpose of transport, carrying along large amounts of food and water was a non-problem. This was not the case for a lone person, however.
If you were to either misjudge either the amount of provisions needed or the distance to be traveled, then it was quite possible to run out of supplies before you’d reached your destination.
Without anywhere to stay along the road, the danger posed to her by exiling Lefille from the group at this point was easy enough to imagine.
The adventurer didn’t seem to care, though.
“I don’t know anything about that! It has nothing to do with us, anyway!”
He actually said something like that.
Suimei turned to the others.
“…And you all feel similarly?” he couldn’t help but ask, though he knew the answer even before he spoke.
As he’d expected, his question was met with cold words and colder gazes.
“…Tch.”
His teeth gritted in response. The adventurer looked at him with contempt before saying something truly outrageous.
“And? How long are you going to pretend? I know that, deep down, you also think this girl should get the h.e.l.l out. Am I wrong?”
“WHAT?! I would never—”
“Pretending to be her friend this whole time, you’re too far to back out now? Or what? Deceived by her good looks? I guess there’s that, she is pretty – at least on the outside.”
“Wh—”
“Hmph. Not only did she bring the Mazoku upon us, but she’s also the kind of woman who leads men astray—”
This last line was the straw that broke the camel’s back for Suimei, his rage boiling over as coldness seized his heart.
I won’t be silent.
No matter what, his vulgarity had gone too far; he’d done something which Suimei was simply incapable of doing.
That’s why it couldn’t be helped if Suimei, unable to control himself any longer, raised his fingers toward the adventurer, preparing to snap them.
“What? You want to start something?”
Not realizing the perilous situation he was in, the adventurer said something fatally stupid. In just a second more, that smug smile would be wiped from his face—
Suddenly, Suimei, about to give form to his fury, was stopped by Lefille.
“—Stop it, Suimei-kun!”
“…”
“What do you think you’re doing?! This won’t change anything!”
“Tch…”
Lefille’s words of restraint brought Suimei back to his senses. Thinking it over, he came to the same conclusion – his actions wouldn’t change the end result. Her exit was already inevitable, something that was obvious to anyone thinking calmly.
In order to reduce the risk to the caravan as much as possible, it was necessary for her to leave.
His voice tinged with regret, Galeo spoke.
“Gurakis-san. We’re going to leave now. I think you know what you need to do…”
“I do. I’ll head in a direction different from the one the caravan takes, I understand.”
“That’s right,” was his only response. This was necessary to minimize risk to the group.
As the two spoke, Suimei abruptly turned to the adventurer party that was well acquainted with Lefille.
The magicial girl who had laughed and chatted happily with her and the warrior who had praised her ability. At this time, their gazes, like the others were estranged. They weren’t even willing to meet Lefille’s eyes, let alone come to her aid.
Suimei, however, couldn’t blame them. They were afraid of the Mazoku army. If they were to ignore the feelings of the others and protect Lefille, then who could say what the consequences would be? Plus, it wasn’t like they could be sure that Lefille wasn’t in fact the target of the Mazoku.
In such a situation, they could only prioritize their own safety. Suimei didn’t intend to criticize their cowardice, however; he, of all people, did not have that right.
…At long last, negotiations over provisions settled, Lefille called out to Suimei.
“Lefille…”
“…Our time together has been short, Suimei-kun, but I’ll pray for your safety.”
“…”
How can she smile at a time like this? His gaze fixed on her smile, he wanted to ask, “Is this really okay?” but he knew that she’d simply reply that it was.
She turned away. The sight of that back, carrying that large sword with such ease, carried no trace of the reliability that it had once shown. No, burned into his vision now was the fading figure of a young girl who looked every bit her age.
And that’s why—
“Hey, let’s get going.”
Right, and that’s why—
“Hey, did you hear me?”
Right, this is different from that time with Reiji and the others.
Yeah, this is no different from forsaking Lefille.
Lefille, and that vulnerable, retreating back and gaze, would thus be abandoned to a lonely h.e.l.l without so much as a single hand outstretched to her.
“…Give me my provisions.”
Before he realized it, the words had already left his mouth.
“Huh?” the adventurer said in shock.
His gaze still following Lefille, Suimei continued.
“I’m going with her. Thanks for watching over me until now.”
“Huh?” the adventurer repeated.
Galeo sighed.
“Are you really okay with this? If you leave us now, you won’t be rewarded for the commission, you know?”
“I don’t need that sort of thing, but I do need food and water. Consider it payment for my work up to this point if you wouldn’t mind.”
“…I understand. Take care of yourself out there, Yakagi-san,” Galeo replied, his eyes closed, giving in without trying to persuade him otherwise.
If he did not possess this sort of calm, disinterested disposition he could never have made it as a caravan leader.
“What’s this? In the end, you still—”
—*BOOM*
Without getting to finish, the adventurer was sent flying by Suimei’s magic. He’d already lost all patience and had no desire to allow the man’s vulgarity to further offend his ears.
“Hey, are you really going to be okay…?” the warrior asked, concern on his face.
“Yeah, don’t worry about it,” Suimei replied, filling his bag with provisions.
If he hadn’t landed on the ground itself, then he would have pulverized whatever had been in its place instead.
His hand resting upon the ground for support, the Mazoku slowly rose. He was substantially larger than the other Mazoku had been, and stood over two meters tall.
His arms and legs were as thick as logs, like an incarnation of violence itself. Suimei, a visitor from another world, was instantly reminded of the Oni of j.a.panese legend as well as the satyrs of Western mythology. He positively radiated a dense aura of menace.
The intense feeling of danger teeming in the air filled the humans’ hearts with fear. This was a devil.
Even though he was still humanoid in form, and was even attired in a manner similar to humanity, but the specifics of his body couldn’t have been more different.
“…Ho, looks like I’ve found what we’ve been looking for.”
They couldn’t understand what this Mazoku was saying. His fragmented words didn’t even convey enough information to hazard a guess.
At the sudden appearance of this Mazoku, and the terrifying pressure they felt from him, the adventurers lost their minds out of fear.
“W-what… That guy is so much stronger than the others!”
“S, so powerful! The others can’t even compare…”
In an instant, they’d lost all calm. They couldn’t be blamed for that, though. Although the Mazoku that had previously appeared were frightening enough all their own, but an opponent of this level made them feel faint.
However—
Tch. This one’s on a whole different level from the other Mazoku…
Because of this new opponent, Suimei, too, began to sweat. Even if he hadn’t actually seen just how strong this new enemy actually was, but he was nevertheless shaken by the sudden appearance of such a powerful foe.
Over and over he told himself to calm down, but unexpectedly, it was hard to still his nervousness.
“Insects… You sure were full of yourselves just now.”
The Mazoku snorted, ridiculing the humans before him.
His intentions unclear, his gaze swept across the a.s.sembled humans like a tiger staring down its prey.
“…Hmph. This is different from what I heard. Don’t tell me that info we received was false…? Just where did things go wrong?” The Mazoku’s voice was noticeably tinged with confusion.
Nevertheless, casting his concerns aside, the Mazoku took a deep breath.
And then—
“Whatever. What I have to do hasn’t changed. —Listen up, humans! My name is Rajas! I am one entrusted with the army of the glorious Maou Nakshatra, a general of the Mazoku! Having met me here, this is the end of the road for all of you! Obediently await your death at my hands!”
His voice shook both air and ground. The guards, already trembling before this, felt their terror grow.
“H, hii…”
A fearful whimper escaped someone’s lips. The others felt as though it could well have been them. The only word that could describe their current situation was despair.
“…”
In contrast, Lefille, standing at the forefront of the human guards, simply stood unmoving before the Mazoku known as Rajas.
This couldn’t be. Even someone such as she was unable to withstand the menace of this Mazoku?
Their eyes turning to this young girl who was serving as the vanguard, the gazes of the others started to show distinct unease.
Just then.
Lefille’s emotions flared.
“YOU BASTAAAAAAARD!”
An earth-shaking yell that in no way lost out to Rajas. A roar filled with deep fury, that cast off the fear holding the others in its grip. Red light s.h.i.+ning once more, Lefille attacked.
“Oh?”
In the face of that whirlwind of red, Rajas revealed a fearless smile. He thrust out his fist to meet the attack head-on.
Lefille’s slash was, of course, accompanied by that crimson light, but her strike was unable to reach Rajas’ ma.s.sive hand. Two enormous powers collided, exploding in a shower of sparks.
Her colossal blade had been stopped by the dark energy surrounding Rajas’ fist, and in the end, it never made contact with his arm.
It had been a full-powered, decisive strike. The Mazoku responded with a sneer, though one that carried a hint of praise.
“Not bad, little girl.”
“Of course! Do you remember this sword?”
“Hmm? Your sword?”
“—Tsk. Rajas. Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten me already!”
Unlike the radiance that had come from her before, naked anger now flowed forth from her.
From what she just said, it looks like that Rajas guy has some sort of past with her—
The Mazoku swung his arm, knocking aside her sword.
Lefille landed firmly upon the ground and reset her stance.
The Mazoku squinted at her, and then as if suddenly recalling where he’d met her before, laughed uproariously.
“—Ahahahahahaha! I see now! I remember you now, little girl! You’re that survivor of Nos.h.i.+as from that time, right?!”
“Eh…?”
“Huh…?”
From the Mazoku’s mouth had come the name “Nos.h.i.+as.” At this name, the others – the party of adventurers included – suddenly reacted.
Nos.h.i.+as was that country that was destroyed by the Mazoku. So she escaped from there. I guess that’s where she met that Mazoku?
Her emotions seizing control of her person, Lefille yelled back, “…That’s right! Now you remember!”
“Hahaha! Man, I’d totally figured you’d have died in the wilderness somewhere. To think you were still alive! Everyone else died, after all!”
“You b.a.s.t.a.r.d!”
The Mazoku’s pleased smile caused Lefille to unleash another ferocious strike.
She’d completely lost herself to her rage, and lost all sense of self. Her blade was now infused with an intense energy of a degree completely beyond that which it had before possessed.
Unfortunately, the Mazoku’s power was every bit its equal. Corrupt power enveloped his fist, which blocked Lefille’s fierce attack. Just then, having lost her calm, the girl showed an opening.
“—Your movements are too repet.i.tive!”
“Oh—” she called out unconsciously as her vision filled with the sight of that ma.s.sive fist.
The situation was dire. The Mazoku’s fist, br.i.m.m.i.n.g with dark energy, shot directly toward her.
If she were to get hit by that, even a spirit such as herself would not emerge unscathed.
“Tch—”
The others were frozen in suspense. That meant the only one left who could possibly turn things around was Suimei.
Clicking his tongue, Suimei activated a magic and pulled the frozen Lefille away from the incoming punch.
“Wha—?!”
“Eh—?”
Both the one who had just narrowly avoided the attack and the one whose attack had just missed cried out in surprise.
Right before the moment of impact, Suimei had darted out. Because his magic had been so hastily enacted, he hadn’t been able to create much distance between her and Rajas. That meant that Lefille was still well within Rajas’ attack range.
Accordingly, he could only advance and use his own body to defend against the incoming attack.
“Suimei-kun! You can’t! Get back!”
“A n.o.body like you dares to challenge me?!”
The shockwave created by Rajas’ savage attack pounded into Suimei’s body. Suimei endured the pressure as he raced toward the Mazoku at the greatest speed he was capable of mustering.
At the same time, his eyes never left his opponent’s fist. The Mazoku’s shoulder moved. The Mazoku had unleashed another punch, one that could surely smash him to bits.
Can I do what I did last time and seize the opportunity to throw him? No, that’s far too dangerous. Given the tremendous energy emanating from that fist, even the slightest contact would have disastrous consequences. Yes, that was a very bad idea indeed.
Suimei leapt upward, dodging the incoming blow, and raced up the length of the Mazoku’s arm, his speed never dropping. By the time the arm had fully extended, he’d already reached the top of its body.
“Fu—”
Suimei released an earth-shattering kick on the Mazoku’s shoulder with the entirety of what mana he had been able to gather in these few instants.
From his foot a strong sense of feedback came: it’d been a good hit. Nevertheless, Rajas was completely unharmed.
All Suimei had managed to accomplish had been to force Rajas’ legs deeper into the ground.
—s.h.i.+t. Even a solid hit like that is useless, huh.
The adventurers’ swords had been decidedly effective against the Mazoku, but this was all he had been able to do. How annoying. Was there something he was missing? Usually an attack like that would have split his victim wide open from the shoulders on down. Something was strange here.
Such rude thoughts ran through Suimei’s mind even as his body fluttered through the air.
“You little punk!”
A roar accompanied Rajas’ ma.s.sive fist. Even if it wasn’t completely aimed, it nevertheless still had enough power, or rather, more than enough, to kill him five times over.
Lefille faced off directly against this kind of power? That’s a spirit for you. I’m in awe.
“—Via gravitas” (—Gravity road, take shape.)
Via gravitas. Faced with an incoming attack, he activated his magic with a single phrase, forcing his body to the ground with utmost haste. His peripheral vision caught hold of Rajas’ leg kicking straight toward him.
“—?!”
In the blink of an eye, Suimei was behind him.
Watching his foe dodge what he had been sure was a certain-kill attack, Rajas’ face was filled with shock. His kick landed a moment later, accompanied by an enormous crack, completely uprooting the trees in the area impacted by his attack.
I wish this guy would control his strength a little, Suimei sighed as he retreated before Rajas could turn around.
Placing some distance between them, Suimei’s pace slowed as he continued to observe his opponent, brutal to the extreme.
Appearing before his squinting eyes was the rear view of the Mazoku. Its gigantic frame was accompanied by physique that was a step above that of humanity, and boasted a menacing strength. Its mana levels were an entirely different level from the other Mazoku and a pitch black, foul energy coursed around its body.
That dark power flowed forth from its body wasn’t something that any living creature should naturally possess.
Finally, Rajas turned around and their gazes met. In the next instant, Suimei had lost his opponent, dodging to the side.
“Sh—” Rajas muttered unconsciously, having been toyed with by Suimei.
Again, that ma.s.sive arm came rus.h.i.+ng toward him. In that case—
“—Omissa vicissim” (Reverse heaven and earth.)
“What?!”
His magic inverted s.p.a.ce within a designated area. His target thus dropped headfirst into the ground.
He, of course, wasn’t expecting this to inflict any damage, but rather had intended to gain himself a precious few seconds.
To earn himself the time to chant this next incantation, that is.
Leaping backward, he shouted, “—Abreq aaaaa!”
His incantation was nevertheless interrupted.
That was because an avalanche of dirt and stone came rus.h.i.+ng toward him.
“A clod of earth, is it…” he muttered unconsciously, his indifferent tone shaking slightly.
He waved an arm at the incoming ma.s.s.
In the blink of an eye, this ma.s.sive clump of earth parted like the Red Sea before the arms of Moses.
Immediately thereafter, he came into contact with the remnants of that dark power.
…It’s hard to breathe.
Indeed, “evil” was an extremely accurate description for this power. This was a power ant.i.thetical to humanity, its mere presence was enough to cause instinctive revulsion.
It looked like calling upon power from outside of this world was rather effective. The magic he had just tried was definitely the key.
…Once again, the two enemies faced off.
One side stuck his arms into his pockets while the other, having been toyed with as he had been, was surprisingly calm.
I guess that’s a general for you. He knows how to keep his cool.
Brus.h.i.+ng off the dirt from his body, Rajas spoke.
“Not bad for a punk. Even though you’re a mage, you seem quite capable.”
“Thanks.”
“But these glancing blows aren’t any use—”
“Glancing blows? From where I stand, you’ve just been swinging at the empty air. What are your thoughts on that?”
“Shut your mouth. Seeing as you can’t hurt me at all, I wouldn’t be so arrogant if I were you.”
He’d laughed off his provocations. This wasn’t an opponent that would let down his guard.
Lefille, having returned to a battle-ready state, reached his side—
“Suimei-kun! Please be careful! Once he gets serious, this guy’s power isn’t anything like this!”
“…Are you kidding me? He’s still not being serious and it’s already like this? Heavens, have mercy…” Suimei muttered gloomily, not caring that his comments were ill-suited to the situation.
Rather, he really was beginning to feel depressed.
Rajas looked like he hadn’t even worked up a sweat. Given what Lefille had said, it was quite possible that he hadn’t even brought out 50% of his true power.
“If he wants to, then this whole area… —!”
“Oi oi, this guy is that dangerous?”
“Yes, even my slashes with this sword aren’t bothering him in the least. You can’t afford to be careless.”
Judging by the white-knuckled grip she had on her sword, she seemed to have been remembering something particularly unpleasant. Actually, that had to be the case. There’s no way she didn’t have a memory like that.
“Hahaha, exactly. You’re just a human mage, don’t get too full of yourself…”
“Ku—”
Lefille groaned at the sudden swell of power. In her eyes, a trace of apprehensiveness appeared.
…If his enemy possessed a power of this degree, then he couldn’t afford to just let things continue like this. He would act before things pa.s.sed the point of no return.
And so…
“Archatius over—” (Mana furnace, charge—)
—Just as Suimei began his incantation, the situation suddenly changed.
Rajas, who he was sure was about to attack, instead looked over at Lefille and laughed.
“Kukukuku…”
“What’s so funny?!”
“Oh, it’s nothing. I just thought of something fun.”
” ‘Something fun?’ ”
Rajas didn’t bother to answer as he took to the sky.
“I’ll take my leave from the battlefield for now.”
“Wh—?!”
“Don’t forget, though, girl from Nos.h.i.+as – your power doesn’t mean the tiniest thing before us. Once I gather all my subordinates in the area, I’ll be back!”
“Subordinates…? That’s…”
“This was just one part of my forces. Just a tiny fraction, really. Do remember that,” Rajas added, as Lefille could barely speak. “Don’t bother hoping for salvation though. I’ve brought an enormous army with me, and my orders were to ‘Crush all human opposition without mercy’.”
With that, Rajas turned and left with the other surviving Mazoku.
Lefille started to give chase, but as she began to rush off—
“W-wait!”
“Lefille!”
“—!”
Suimei grabbed her shoulder. Her actions were meaningless.
She flipped him a look that asked why he was stopping her. He shook his head. Seemingly understanding, she finally seemed to regain control of herself.
“Are you okay?” Suimei asked with concern.
“Yeah, sorry… I lost my cool,” she answered regretfully.
☆
As things calmed down in the wake of the Mazoku’s departure, Suimei s.h.i.+fted to the task that had been awaiting him.
Healing. While there were other magicians capable of restorative magic, their knowledge of these was only on par with Suimei. Adding in the knowledge of curative magic he’d brought from his own world, his abilities far surpa.s.sed theirs.
“Whew. With this, we’re done,” he sighed, having finished up with the last person who had needed to be healed.
Because healing wasn’t his specialty, there were still some places where he could stand to improve, but his self-evaluation of his healing ability was still rather high.
The guard he had just healed swung his arm a few times in test as he thanked him, “Sorry about this, Mage onii-san.”
“Not at all, this is what I’m here for, after all.”
At this answer, the guard laughed happily.
“Still, you’re pretty amazing. That magic you used just now healed my wound without even leaving a scar, and I can even use my arm right away. I’ve never seen such a perfected healing technique.”
“It’s not common to be able to move the affected body part after healing?”
“That, huh. Well, with small wounds, sure, but not with larger ones. That’s common knowledge, right?”
“Huh.”
That was unexpected.
From what he’d said, Suimei surmised that the restriction was due to the fact that mages were only healing what they could see. Although the visible wound was healed, that nevertheless did not mean the healing had been complete.
“Is that not how you’re doing it?”
“You could say that.”
Suimei gave an ambiguous reply.
When it came to this issue, further investigation was warranted.
On a different note.
“—Is it just me, or has it gotten really noisy over there?”
A little ways off merchants and guards were gathered and were making a racket.
“…Yeah. Maybe we’re about to leave? Would that be why?” the guard guessed unconcernedly.
From what Rajas had said, his Mazoku soldiers had already begun to gather. This wasn’t the time to be leisurely taking their time, they needed to leave.
This clamor though, what was causing it?
“Well, your healing’s already finished, so why don’t we go take a look?”
“Sure.”
His back to the guard, Suimei headed in the direction of the racket.
As he arrived, he noticed a tension in the atmosphere.
What was the cause of this? This question plaguing his thoughts, he continued to observe the situation, taking note of the fact that the guards and merchants seemed to have someone surrounded.
The one surrounded was none other than the one who had been courageously engaged in battle until just now – Lefille.
Typically speaking, one who had heroically and singlehandedly dominated the Mazoku as she had would be treated with great respect, but the mood dominating the crowd was that of nervousness and unease. The scene simply could not in any way be seen as congratulatory in nature.
Surrounded as she was, Lefille opened her mouth to speak, intending to dispel the atmosphere.
“…Why have you asked me to come here? There are other things that should take precedence, no?” Lefille asked as her gaze took in the faces of those encircling her.
An adventurer stepped forward.
“And what would that be?”
“To move somewhere safer, obviously. If we dawdle here, there’s a good chance the Mazoku will attack again.”
“Attack again…”
His words were filled with deep, dark emotion.
At his response, Lefille repeated her suggestion, more forcefully this time.
“What? Is there something you want to say? If so, then just say it alr—”
“Yeah, I do. The Mazoku attacked us because of you, didn’t they? You’re a survivor of Nos.h.i.+as, right?”
“—!”
“…What do you mean ‘just say it already’? Stop playing dumb. This is all your fault! It’s all your fault that we were attacked, that we were targeted by the Mazoku!” the adventurer spat.
The harsh words left Lefille hesitant and uncertain.
“C-certainly we were targeted, but it has nothing to do with me…”
“And how do you know that?”
“…”
Lefille was left speechless in the face of their malice.
Even though Rajas had certainly said that he’d an eye on her, but there was no way to know that that was why the Mazoku had attacked.
The adventurer’s certainty wasn’t justified, but without evidence to the contrary, she couldn’t exactly refute his claims either.
“That Mazoku was hunting for you, wasn’t he? We were all dragged into this because he wants you dead.”
“T-that’s…”
” ‘That’s…’ what? If you have an explanation, then spit it out already!”
She couldn’t respond, bowing her head instead.
Unable to prove that she was innocent of the accusation, she could only keep her silence. Suimei, however, knew how to rebut their claims.
“Can I say something?”
“Huh?”
“When we were fighting that Mazoku earlier, didn’t he tell Lefille, ‘I remember you now’? In other words, only then did he notice that Lefille was present here. That being the case, there’s no way they came here intentionally targeting her from the very beginning.”
Unfortunately.
“Ha, that’s your proof?! That has nothing to do with anything!”
“And why the h.e.l.l not…?!”
The adventurer had already lost the ability to make rational judgments. He was too sure that he was right.
Gesticulating wildly, he continued.
“That’s because they just had some general intel on her whereabouts! Only after searching the area did they find who they were looking for! Or do you have proof to the otherwise?!”
His argument was that they only knew the general location of their enemy and that her precise whereabouts had only become clear after the first attack. To be sure, that explanation did explain some things—
“Moreover, don’t you remember what this girl said after we were ambushed? She knew that our attackers were Mazoku! Why would she know that?! They could very well have been monsters or magical beasts! No, there’s an easy way to explain her certainty – she already knew that there were Mazoku hunting her!”
—It was only then that Suimei noticed. This was the adventurer who’d come to warn them of the attack. At this moment, the memory of his doubting gaze came to mind.
However.
“Hmph. Preposterous. That was just because Lefille is sensitive to the Mazoku’s presence.”
“You may be right, but… Do you have any evidence of that?”
“That—”
What a leading manner of questioning. With questions like that, Suimei couldn’t really answer.
If he were to ask Suimei to produce evidence of his claims, then Suimei, of course, would not be able to do so.
Plus, given the current mob mentality, even if he had managed to produced the evidence asked for, it wouldn’t have changed a thing.
“You can’t do it, can you? Then scram.”
“What…?”
Every new word from the man irritated Suimei more and more.
The man’s provocative tone and words sent his blood pressure soaring.
The wall of people parted, and a man appeared.
“Hold it, you two!”
“Galeo-san…”
They turned in the direction of the new voice. The roar had come from the merchants’ leader – Galeo.
“You’re all here to guard the caravan. If dissension breaks out among the ranks, it’s going to cause problems for others. Your argument ends now.”
“If the argument is to end, does that mean you’ve already decided on a plan of action, Galeo-san?”
“Yes. I’m the head of this caravan. I’ll take charge of judging this case.”
“O-oh…”
The adventurer could only nod his head when faced with Galeo’s decisive words and att.i.tude. Even though he was rather small in stature, he was nevertheless the leader of a caravan. His character far surpa.s.sed that of this adventurer.
“Is that acceptable to everyone else?” Galeo asked the others.
They all nodded. The complaining voices directed at Lefille were thus silenced.
Confirming that the outburst had ended, he turned to Lefille and spoke coldly.
“…Gurakis-san, I’m the leader of this caravan. That means that I must place the safety of this group first and foremost.”
He hadn’t explicitly stated his conclusion yet, but everyone knew where he was going with this.
Explaining this in full seriousness, he meant to—
“We’ve been targeted by the Mazoku, and you are the reason. As the one responsible for this group, I can’t just leave this situation alone. Do you know what I mean?”
“I do. I understand. You want me to go.”
“—?!”
“That is correct.”
His roundabout manner of speaking notwithstanding, Lefille had understood what he was getting at. Galeo nodded at her response. Responding to the turn of events, the crowd began to murmur once more.
“Of course!”
“Get the h.e.l.l out of here!”
“You jinx!”
Overly cruel words. Regardless of whether or not Lefille had indeed been the cause for the attacks, she had never intended to bring harm to the caravan. In any event, the one in greatest danger at the moment was her. The one they should be most concerned about was her.
That was how it should have been, anyway. This manner of kicking someone when they were down was going way too far.
Suimei could restrain himself no longer.
“Hey! You’re just going to force her out all alone?!”
“Of course we are! The Mazoku were targeting us because of this girl, you know?! Staying together with this girl means going up against that Mazoku general and his army!”
“Even so! If she’s all alone, what’s she going to do about food and water?!”
Even putting the Mazoku issue aside, this was another important facet of things.
Whether or not you were traveling alone, food and water were a matter of life and death. Ensuring that you had sufficient provisions to last was a necessary part of travel.
Since the caravan was fundamentally for the purpose of transport, carrying along large amounts of food and water was a non-problem. This was not the case for a lone person, however.
If you were to either misjudge either the amount of provisions needed or the distance to be traveled, then it was quite possible to run out of supplies before you’d reached your destination.
Without anywhere to stay along the road, the danger posed to her by exiling Lefille from the group at this point was easy enough to imagine.
The adventurer didn’t seem to care, though.
“I don’t know anything about that! It has nothing to do with us, anyway!”
He actually said something like that.
Suimei turned to the others.
“…And you all feel similarly?” he couldn’t help but ask, though he knew the answer even before he spoke.
As he’d expected, his question was met with cold words and colder gazes.
“…Tch.”
His teeth gritted in response. The adventurer looked at him with contempt before saying something truly outrageous.
“And? How long are you going to pretend? I know that, deep down, you also think this girl should get the h.e.l.l out. Am I wrong?”
“WHAT?! I would never—”
“Pretending to be her friend this whole time, you’re too far to back out now? Or what? Deceived by her good looks? I guess there’s that, she is pretty – at least on the outside.”
“Wh—”
“Hmph. Not only did she bring the Mazoku upon us, but she’s also the kind of woman who leads men astray—”
This last line was the straw that broke the camel’s back for Suimei, his rage boiling over as coldness seized his heart.
I won’t be silent.
No matter what, his vulgarity had gone too far; he’d done something which Suimei was simply incapable of doing.
That’s why it couldn’t be helped if Suimei, unable to control himself any longer, raised his fingers toward the adventurer, preparing to snap them.
“What? You want to start something?”
Not realizing the perilous situation he was in, the adventurer said something fatally stupid. In just a second more, that smug smile would be wiped from his face—
Suddenly, Suimei, about to give form to his fury, was stopped by Lefille.
“—Stop it, Suimei-kun!”
“…”
“What do you think you’re doing?! This won’t change anything!”
“Tch…”
Lefille’s words of restraint brought Suimei back to his senses. Thinking it over, he came to the same conclusion – his actions wouldn’t change the end result. Her exit was already inevitable, something that was obvious to anyone thinking calmly.
In order to reduce the risk to the caravan as much as possible, it was necessary for her to leave.
His voice tinged with regret, Galeo spoke.
“Gurakis-san. We’re going to leave now. I think you know what you need to do…”
“I do. I’ll head in a direction different from the one the caravan takes, I understand.”
“That’s right,” was his only response. This was necessary to minimize risk to the group.
As the two spoke, Suimei abruptly turned to the adventurer party that was well acquainted with Lefille.
The magicial girl who had laughed and chatted happily with her and the warrior who had praised her ability. At this time, their gazes, like the others were estranged. They weren’t even willing to meet Lefille’s eyes, let alone come to her aid.
Suimei, however, couldn’t blame them. They were afraid of the Mazoku army. If they were to ignore the feelings of the others and protect Lefille, then who could say what the consequences would be? Plus, it wasn’t like they could be sure that Lefille wasn’t in fact the target of the Mazoku.
In such a situation, they could only prioritize their own safety. Suimei didn’t intend to criticize their cowardice, however; he, of all people, did not have that right.
…At long last, negotiations over provisions settled, Lefille called out to Suimei.
“Lefille…”
“…Our time together has been short, Suimei-kun, but I’ll pray for your safety.”
“…”
How can she smile at a time like this? His gaze fixed on her smile, he wanted to ask, “Is this really okay?” but he knew that she’d simply reply that it was.
She turned away. The sight of that back, carrying that large sword with such ease, carried no trace of the reliability that it had once shown. No, burned into his vision now was the fading figure of a young girl who looked every bit her age.
And that’s why—
“Hey, let’s get going.”
Right, and that’s why—
“Hey, did you hear me?”
Right, this is different from that time with Reiji and the others.
Yeah, this is no different from forsaking Lefille.
Lefille, and that vulnerable, retreating back and gaze, would thus be abandoned to a lonely h.e.l.l without so much as a single hand outstretched to her.
“…Give me my provisions.”
Before he realized it, the words had already left his mouth.
“Huh?” the adventurer said in shock.
His gaze still following Lefille, Suimei continued.
“I’m going with her. Thanks for watching over me until now.”
“Huh?” the adventurer repeated.
Galeo sighed.
“Are you really okay with this? If you leave us now, you won’t be rewarded for the commission, you know?”
“I don’t need that sort of thing, but I do need food and water. Consider it payment for my work up to this point if you wouldn’t mind.”
“…I understand. Take care of yourself out there, Yakagi-san,” Galeo replied, his eyes closed, giving in without trying to persuade him otherwise.
If he did not possess this sort of calm, disinterested disposition he could never have made it as a caravan leader.
“What’s this? In the end, you still—”
—*BOOM*
Without getting to finish, the adventurer was sent flying by Suimei’s magic. He’d already lost all patience and had no desire to allow the man’s vulgarity to further offend his ears.
“Hey, are you really going to be okay…?” the warrior asked, concern on his face.
“Yeah, don’t worry about it,” Suimei replied, filling his bag with provisions.
